Ch.18Hero Esmeralda (7)

# Hero Esmeralda (7)

Beelzebub’s Army 11th Division Commander, Eleven, looked at the scene unfolding before his eyes and thought.

‘This is an illusion.’

Otherwise, it made no sense.

A world where red rain falls. Everything with form that Eleven’s eyes touched was sharpened to a point that made him hesitate to even take a step.

But he couldn’t just stand still either. The red rain falling from the sky was molten iron, and what rode the wind wasn’t coolness but a chilling blade.

Clang!

That’s why Eleven had to swing his sword against the falling raindrops and the raging storm.

Yes, this was the sensation of everything in this world returning as malice directed at him.

He had to swing his sword in the hell he himself had built up.

***

Clang!

With a clear sound, Eleven opened his eyes.

Only then could he discover the blue flames enveloping him.

All the alien scenery he had experienced was manifested by these flames.

An absurd ability that affected both body and mind.

Eleven swallowed dryly.

What he had experienced so far was a type of illusion magic.

However, the fact that the illusion could affect reality made him naturally wonder where this path might lead.

“Huff… Huff…”

But, in the end, he survived.

He broke through that hell and stood in reality once more. That spoke to the difference in capability between him and Lug.

Eleven glared at Lug, who had collapsed as if all his strength was gone. He looked as though he had exhausted all his power on this one ability and was completely drained.

The hero had already fallen, and so had Lug. Now nothing could stop him.

“…”

Approaching Lug with his chipped sword, Eleven looked alternately at his sword and Lug with cold eyes.

‘What did I come here to do?’

The hellish landscape he had experienced. That alone was reason enough not to spare Lug.

He would surely become a threat.

He had already become Lug’s enemy. He had swung his sword at him and wounded him.

But, precisely because of this, Eleven calmly withdrew his sword.

“This too is just a false name.”

Eleven remembered his mission. He remembered his position.

He recalled what Lilith had said.

Yes, he was a soldier who could give his life for the Demon Lord.

And his mission was to help Lug escape.

“The mission is a failure. But, Counselor Lilith. I understand what you said, albeit belatedly.”

Eleven sheathed the sword he had swung to Lug’s neck and turned around.

“For a while, I won’t have the face to see the Demon Lord again.”

He had earned Lug’s enmity.

In this situation, trying to guide him to the Demon Lord’s army would only create resistance.

He had ruined everything by not believing what the Demon Lord had said, what Lilith had said, what they had said about him being special.

Eleven turned away, leaving both the fallen hero and Lug behind.

As he passed by, he saw blue flames forming over the hero’s wounds. They weren’t the sticky flames that had bound him, but were burning beautifully like sacred fire.

“I know nothing.”

He could see the wounds healing where the flames touched.

Yes, Lug was saving the hero.

Eleven couldn’t understand why. Just who was he? Whose side did he intend to take?

Eleven returned, self-deprecating his position as someone falling behind the times and increasingly being pushed aside as an old man in the back room.

***

“Uggghhhh?!”

When I opened my eyes, as expected before going to sleep, an incredible muscle pain dominated my entire body.

Damn hero, with her kind tone and gentle encouragement I didn’t realize it, but thinking about it now, there’s no forced march quite like this.

How can a person only think about themselves? Does the thought of considering a weak porter not exist at all?

“…You’re awake.”

“Ah.”

For some reason, I saw the hero’s figure before me. For a moment, I thought she had entered my tent and pink fantasies unfolded in my mind, but looking closely, I was sleeping on the ground.

Belatedly looking around, my eyes finally went to the hero’s appearance.

Her whole body was wrapped in bandages, and there were quite a lot of them in various places.

Here and there, whether they weren’t properly wrapped or the wounds were that severe, I could see bloodstains turning the bandages red.

“…Was there an attack while I was sleeping?”

“You don’t seem to remember.”

“I feel like I had a nightmare… Did I sleep through all this commotion?”

“…”

Esmeralda stared at me blankly for a while, maintaining silence.

Whether it was contempt or caution, or just fatigue, I wasn’t sure. It was probably fatigue. She clearly looked exhausted.

After a moment of silence.

Esmeralda responded with her usual bright smile.

“You woke up briefly, hit your head, and then passed out.”

“Ah…”

Am I an idiot?

Hearing Esmeralda’s words, it seems there was a demon attacker last night.

Seeing how badly Esmeralda was injured, it must have been someone quite skilled, and I was just sleeping through it.

If I had run away during that time, Esmeralda wouldn’t have been able to chase me… How am I going to explain this to Commander Lilith?

I might really be abandoned this time.

“Anyway, I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Ah! Th-thank you for protecting me, Hero…”

If I was knocked out after being hit in the head, the battle must have been intense, and regardless of the details, the hero fought while protecting me, so it’s right to express gratitude.

With that thought, I thanked her, and the hero, Esmeralda, smiled wryly. Unlike her usual bright smile, it seemed more human.

Well, I’m the only non-human here anyway.

That’s just a figure of speech.

“Um… If it’s okay, would you like me to help with the bandages?”

“…”

Seeing her repeatedly fail to tie a bandage on one arm with the other hand, I felt frustrated just watching.

The hero looked at me with drowsy eyes for a moment, then obediently handed me the bandage and extended her injured area.

I suppose that means she’s entrusting it to me.

“Mr. Lug.”

“Yes, Hero.”

As I was silently wrapping bandages around the hero’s injured areas, the hero, perhaps bored, started a conversation.

“Honestly, doesn’t it feel good to be touching a girl’s body all over?”

“Yes. No! No, it doesn’t!”

“Not at all…? Pfft. Ah, please rewrap this part too. It’s hard to do alone with an injured body…”

“O-of course.”

“Not that side, this side.”

I lose my composure for a moment at the hero’s playfulness, which I hadn’t seen before.

I wasn’t thinking anything, but once she said that, well…

Honestly, it does feel like I’m gaining something. It’s also amazing how such a small, soft body can produce such monstrous strength.

As I wrapped the bandages, I was reminded again of how intense last night’s battle must have been.

Not just the arms, but the waist, shoulders, inner thighs, and center of the body.

There wasn’t a place without wounds.

And as I helped wrap bandages from the arms to the thighs and waist, I couldn’t deny that it felt good, just as the hero had said.

Wow, how can a waist have absolutely no fat?

Since the hero is strong, I thought she might have abs, but when I secretly touched while wrapping the bandage, this area was as soft as the rest of her skin.

“Ah, then next is…”

After wrapping the bandage around her waist while keeping my reddened face hidden by lowering my head slightly.

The remaining part was a sword wound that stretched from the shoulder to the opposite waist.

To wrap this bandage, I would inevitably have to see her naked.

A man like Lug doesn’t back down.

“Ah, I’ll take care of this myself.”

“Yes…”

No, don’t do that.

Can’t you just let me do it? I’m good at wrapping bandages. I passed the medic test with a perfect score.

“Mr. Lug, I understand you feel good touching a girl’s body all over, but let’s not cross the line, shall we?”

“I didn’t feel good.”

“Then did you feel bad?”

“…I did feel like I gained something.”

“Right?”

“Yes.”

“Then you must also know that excessive greed brings trouble?”

“Of course.”

That’s why I’m stuck here like this now.

“I’m still a woman, so it’s embarrassing to show my naked body. You understand, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then why are you staring like that instead of quickly turning your head away?”

“Aha!”

I turned my body at the hero’s warning, delivered with a bright smile.

Human hearts are truly fickle.

Until now, I had never once thought of the hero as a woman.

But feeling her skin against mine, I realized she was quite beautiful.

“Mr. Lug, could you please stop imagining with strange expressions?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No, that, haah… Never mind. Just keep your head properly turned. I’m watching you, so I’ll know right away if you turn your head.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

That was true. The hero had good intuition, though not as good as Tina’s. It would be better not to try anything foolish.

By the way, the sound of clothes being removed seems particularly audible, but that’s not my fault, is it?

“Mr. Lug.”

“I was thinking about mountains, seas, fields, and rivers.”

“No, I don’t need excuses. I’m done, so you can turn around now.”

“Already?”

“Mr. Lug must have been meditating on mountains, seas, fields, and rivers for a long time. Did they appear so vividly that you lost track of time?”

“Yes, it was a beautiful scenery.”

“…”

Nature is beautiful.

Aren’t humans and demons also part of nature?

***

Esmeralda was subtly testing Lug. After what happened last night, she was suspicious whether he had really tried to help her.

She had clearly been fatally wounded, but when she regained consciousness, her worst injuries had long since healed.

If someone had treated her wounds, it could only have been Lug.

‘But I don’t know his identity.’

That’s why she had to be cautious.

Now Lug’s estimated level was even higher than hers.

So she deliberately showed vulnerability to see how Lug would react.

For instance, letting him wrap her bandages.

[Note: He’s thinking that when he touches your skin, you’re still a woman. He’s a beast.]

But he was the same Lug as always.

Or rather, should she say he was Lug who didn’t hide his lust as much as usual?

Esmeralda’s face turned red to the point of almost bursting as she saw the note’s content.

The sensation of her becoming strange because Lug kept having strange thoughts.

In the end, she decided to stop testing him and wrap the bandages herself, but…

[Note: He’s imagining your shirt coming down over your shoulders from the rustling sound. He’s imagining two mounds freed from compression as he hears the sound of hooks falling.]

‘No, this pervert?’

In that brief moment, Lug was even more explicitly imagining her naked body.

Not being able to see wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Lug’s surface thoughts were more explicit than Esmeralda had imagined, so she could only blush, not knowing how to handle the current situation.